


When The Time is Right

by AlexaNDYE



Category: Ocean's 8 (2018)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-25
Updated: 2018-10-25
Packaged: 2019-08-07 12:58:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,600
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16408970
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlexaNDYE/pseuds/AlexaNDYE
Summary: Debbie and Lou are in a relationship, but no one knows about it. They both decide to tell everyone when the time is right, and when they do tell them, everyone's reactions is not what they expected.





	When The Time is Right

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first time writing for this fandom and for this pairing.
> 
> Thanks for reading! :)

Tammy, Nine-Ball, Constance, and Daphne were all lounging in the living room talking about what they were planning to buy with the money they made from the Toussaint Heist they expertly pulled off a few weeks ago. They were all laughing at something Daphne said about her new gig as a director, and the laughter traveled into the open kitchen to the side.

 

Debbie was in the middle of dipping her tea bag into her cup of hot water when, out of the corner of her eye, she saw Lou approaching her. A smile tugged at the brunette’s lips when she felt a familiar arm brush up against hers as the blonde leaned against the countertop.

 

“Making tea?” Lou asked curiously.

 

“You want some?” Debbie asked as she continuously pulled at the string of the tea bag.

 

“You know I’m a coffee kind of gal.”

 

“Really? I could’ve sworn you were a _vodka_ kind of gal,” Debbie replied with a small smirk.

 

Lou smiled at her. “You’re not wrong.” She overlooked the comforting scene of the women in the living room looking at something on Constance’s phone, all wearing wide smiles. Daphne and Tammy were both laughing out loud, and Constance was trying to figure out what they were laughing at.

 

Debbie purposefully bumped her arm against Lou’s to draw her out of her trance. “How long are they staying?”

 

Lou smirked. “Quick to get rid of our company, Deb?”

 

“I’m just joking. Luckily, none of them stay up until 3 AM singing songs from the 70s.” She poked fun of Lou.

 

Lou narrowed her eyes at her. “You thought my voice was exquisite.”

 

“You were drunk. I’d rather have a happy drunk than a sad drunk,” Debbie replied with a playful smirk.

 

Lou frowned. “That’s a bit rude.”

 

Debbie took a very slow sip of her tea and was careful not to burn her tongue. “Or, I’m just really considerate.” She could feel Lou lean in closer to her, but seconds later, the blonde leaned the other way.

 

The two stood in the kitchen in silence as they watched their friends ask Nine-Ball if she could hack all of their terrible exes, and Nine-Ball smirked at the question.

 

“Are we going to tell them?” Lou asked quietly.

 

“Tell them what?” Debbie replied before taking one more small, cautious sip.

 

Lou looked at Debbie and was entranced by the way her lips wrapped around the edge of the ceramic cup in her hands. She almost blushed at the fond memories of their recent nighttime activities.

 

“About us.”

 

A moment later and Debbie’s gaze locked with Lou’s. She could tell that Lou was only being curious and not at all pushing for something to happen. Lou wasn’t the type to care about big announcements, nor did she like the attention. Their relationship had been kept private and it wasn’t a request from Debbie or Lou; it was a mutual understanding, if anything.

 

“Mm,” Debbie hummed against her cup. “Do _you_ want to tell them?”

 

Lou smirked. “I’m asking if _you_ want to tell them. You’re the one that said you wanted to wait.”

 

“I said I wanted to wait long enough to know if I’m sure.”

 

“And are you?”

 

Debbie raised an eyebrow at her partner. “As if the last few nights weren’t a clear indication of that?”

 

Lou’s arm slowly brushed up against Debbie’s that sent light sparks up the brunette’s spine. “We’re both getting old and my memory is not what it used to be,” she teased. “Do you want to refresh it?”

 

Debbie leaned in closer to Lou and whispered loud enough for her to hear, but quiet enough for the women a few meters away from them not to hear. “If I recall correctly, you made it quite clear that the sex was _the_ best sex you’ve ever had.”

 

“When did I say that?”

 

“I never mentioned you _said_ it.” Debbie knowingly smirked at her, and Lou grinned and shook her head. There was a brief moment of silence between them. “We’ll tell them when the time is right.” They both shifted their gaze towards the women in the living room.

 

\---

 

A month later; Constance walked into the loft with a shocked expression on her face. Amita, Tammy, and Daphne noticed and immediately voiced their concern.

 

“Constance, are you okay?” Tammy asked curiously.

 

“Why does it look like you’ve just seen a ghost?” Amita’s eyes began to widen. “Is this place haunted? I knew it. It’s haunted. There’s no way a barbed wire loft is _not_ haunted.”

 

Daphne rolled her eyes. “If it was haunted, you’d know.”

 

Amita furrowed her eyebrows. “How?”

 

“You just would.” Daphne acted like it was a sixth sense everyone had.

 

Tammy got up from her spot on the armchair and made sure Constance was okay.

 

Constance looked at Tammy, and then shifted her gaze between Daphne and Amita. “I think I just saw Debbie and Lou making out on the beach.”

 

The news was so unexpected and unprecedented that Amita and Daphne both whipped their heads around to face the young woman with incredibly wide eyes. Tammy’s eyes widened as well when all three of them, in unison, yelled, “What!?”

 

Constance’s gaze shifted between the three.

 

Amita got up from her spot on the couch. “Are you sure?” She didn’t sound skeptical; she sounded ecstatic.

 

“You better be fucking sure, Constance,” Daphne said quickly.

 

“I’m pretty damn sure I know what I saw, and I saw them making out,” Constance replied.

 

Tammy blinked rapidly. “You sure they weren’t just… talking?”

 

Constance glared at Tammy and gave her the ‘are you kidding me’ look. “Unless Debbie and Lou are French, I doubt they’d be greeting each other with their tongues.”

 

Amita looked at Tammy. “Did you know about this?”

 

Daphne shook her head in disbelief. “If you knew about this, Tammy, and you didn’t tell us, I swear to God—”

 

Tammy looked at loss for words. “I swear I didn’t know about this.”

 

A minute later; Debbie and Lou walked through the double door entrance of the loft. They were talking about a miscellaneous topic when they noticed all eyes were on them.

 

They approached the group and saw Amita wearing a wide grin, Daphne sporting a knowing smirk, and Tammy looking mildly pissed. Constance couldn’t bring herself to look at them, but she did briefly glance at the pair a couple times.

 

Lou furrowed her eyebrows at the group. “Something wrong?”

 

Debbie’s smile faded. “Oh no, are we out of hot water again?”

 

Daphne tried not to laugh. “Oh, trust me, there’s hot water, figuratively speaking, and you two are in it.” She paused and realized the underlying innuendo in her sentence. “Probably not clothed, too,” she added lastly.

 

“Nice touch,” Amita replied with an approving nod.

 

Debbie wore a very confused look. “Uh, what?”

 

Tammy sighed and watched Constance walk towards Amita. “Constance said she saw you guys making out,” she said quickly and in one breath.

 

Tammy knew Lou and Debbie the longest amongst everyone else in the group, and she knew how they acted, how they would react, and what their tells were. When she tried to get a read on Debbie and Lou, she didn’t see anything; she didn’t see a drop of sweat, or any indication that they were caught red handed. Tammy also knew Lou and Debbie were experts on masking their emotions.

 

Debbie began to chuckle. “Unless there was another brunette and blonde on the beach, Lou and I were just talking about a potentially new heist.”

 

Lou tried not to laugh. She turned to Debbie and sarcastically asked, “You want to start dating?”

 

Debbie looked over at Lou. “Are you going to buy me an expensive diamond ring?”

 

“Mm, I did, in fact, recently acquire thirty million dollars. I could buy you the shiniest rock money can afford, Baby.”

 

Debbie smirked. “Does that make you my sugar mommy?”

 

Lou briefly opened her mouth. “That’s a good question. If a couple both have thirty million dollars, are they each other’s sugar mommy?”

 

Debbie hummed in disbelief. “I’m pretty sure they’re just considered two people dating.”

 

Lou hummed thoughtfully.

 

Amita and Daphne’s ecstatic expressions faded. Amita leaned over to Constance whispered sharply, “I thought you said you saw them making out.”

 

“I did,” Constance replied sternly.

 

“It doesn’t look like it,” Daphne whispered angrily.

 

Constance shrugged and said out loud, “I guess… maybe… the sun was in my eyes and I… I might’ve misinterpreted…” She heard Tammy let out a heavy sigh. “…Sorry.”

 

Tammy turned her head to give Constance a disapproving look. While there were no clear indications that the two were dating, Tammy couldn’t help think of the possibility where the two were in fact dating, but didn’t want to tell anyone and used their expertise as cons to disguise their feelings for each other and their relationship.

 

She briefly smiled to herself and mentally shook her head at the thought. _‘They would tell me if they were together, right?’_ she thought to herself. She looked over at the pair and still couldn’t get a read on their feelings.

 

Debbie and Lou were still contemplating about the idea, and then they got into a more heated discussion about who would be the sugar mommy. Lou ended up winning.

 

“There’s no hard feelings, Constance,” Debbie said to make sure the young woman didn’t feel bad. “Lou and I have known each other for a long time.” Her gaze fell upon Tammy. “And besides, you’re not the only one who thought we were together.” Lou’s gaze also fell upon Tammy, and soon everyone’s gaze was directed at Tammy.

 

Tammy shrugged sheepishly and crossed her arms over her chest. “I-It was only a question.” She paused. “I’m surprised you remembered after all these years.”

 

Constance raised an eyebrow. “Are there others besides us?”

 

“Lots,” Lou replied with a smirk.

 

The night ended as it always did; Lou and Debbie talked about some new heist they’ve been thinking of, and Tammy and Amita shot down their idea with various questions that couldn’t be answered.

 

A little before midnight, Tammy and Amita turned in, and Constance stayed up for a little while longer to play video games. Daphne left precisely at nine o’clock, like she always did, and everyone expected to hear her complain the next day that no one was up at the ass crack of dawn to talk to her.

 

Lou came into Debbie’s room later that night wearing gray short shorts and a plain white t-shirt. She saw that Debbie was underneath the covers, reading a book, so she hopped into bed with her and, out of habit, hooked her leg underneath Debbie’s. They acted like it was one of their normal nightly routines, but neither of them wanted to admit that they both missed the skin to skin contact.

 

Lou pulled out her phone and started browsing various clothing store sites. “Constance saw us making out.”

 

Debbie turned a page. “Yep.”

 

“Whose fault is that?”

 

“Yours,” Debbie replied simply.

 

Lou lowered her phone and turned her head to glare at the brunette. “How is it my fault? You were the one that kissed me.”

 

“You were giving me that smile.”

 

“ _That_ smile?” Lou wanted to laugh.

 

“You know, that smile that you always give me when you’re listening intently on what I’m saying.”

 

“You mean the smile I give you when I’m listening to you intently when, in reality, all I’m thinking about is taking your clothes off and having my way with you?” Lou paused and saw Debbie’s gaze leave her book. “That smile?”

 

She turned to Lou and saw the exact same smile she was talking about. Despite her urges and lack of resistance, she dodged Lou’s bait. “Yes, that one.”

 

“Mm,” Lou replied with an approving hum.

 

“And besides, you kissed me back.”

 

“Of course I kissed you back.”

 

“And when you kiss back, I kiss back.”

 

“I think there’s a modern term for it, Babe.” Lou beamed at the brunette. “So, no more kissing on the beach?”

 

“No, we can do whatever we want on the beach. We just have to make sure no one is watching.” Debbie turned another page.

 

\---

 

Another month later and a few days after a quick casino heist; everyone was gathered in the expansive living room of the loft.

 

Tammy was commending Amita for pickpocketing the keycard off one of the guards, and Amita turned to Constance to thank her for teaching her that. Constance nodded and declared she was the best.

 

Daphne was asking Nine-Ball how she hacked into the security system beyond the casino floors, and Nine-Ball was showing her the process she went through. Daphne ended up laughing, because she had no idea what was going on.

 

Amita was then chatting up Rose, wondering what other dress designs she was drawing up before they pulled off the heist.

 

The casino heist was small, but it was also in honor of Debbie’s late brother (if he’s actually dead). The payout was small, but all of them were already millionaires, so the amount of money wasn’t a factor. It was the thrill of the job that made them call in, and also to screw over some egotistical billionaire on the throne of a Casino Chain that was immoral on all levels.

 

No one noticed Debbie and Lou disappear a few minutes after the first round of beers and hard liquor were cracked open, and no one thought it was out of the ordinary. They weren’t talking about celebratory club visits or encores on the rooftop of the loft. They were talking about whether or not they should tell their ‘compadres in crime’ about their relationship. Debbie was a little annoyed with the fact that she had to often make small excuses to go out and get some fresh air when in fact, she was going out to meet Lou in the City for a date. And while Lou wasn’t the best at expressing her feelings, inside and out, Debbie could read her like a book. They’ve known each other for over two decades, so Debbie didn’t have to ask her how she felt about throwing Constance under the bus, or convincing Tammy that she had to stay home due to a ‘stomach bug’.

 

They were experts in making people believe their stories and their feelings, but they were doing it to their friends and, deep down, it made them feel uneasy.

 

When they finally joined the rest of the crew, everyone was lounging on the couches, laughing and sipping their choice of alcohol. All it took to get their attention was Debbie clearing her throat.

 

Debbie smiled warmly at the group and began with, “Uh, Lou and I – uh, we have – we have something we want to tell you guys.”

 

Tammy’s smile disappeared. “Did something happen?”

 

Amita followed up with, “Did someone die?”

 

Daphne narrowed her eyes at Debbie. “Are you two pregnant?”

 

Constance gasped and pointed. “Are you two pregnant and dying?”

 

Nine-ball smirked and rolled her eyes.

 

Lou tried to hide her smile behind her hand as Debbie gave every single one of them a stern look of disbelief.

 

“No, we are not pregnant, and no, no one is dying,” Debbie replied before briefly gazing at Lou. Her hands fiddled with the hem of her white cotton sleeves that were long enough to cover half her hands. “This is actually something we should’ve told you guys a long time ago.”

 

There was a pause and everyone, minus Lou and Debbie, were on edge. During the pause of anticipation, Daphne raised her eyebrows and Tammy flashed them a puzzled look.

 

Debbie took one more look at Lou, and Lou replied with a reassuring smile. The brunette turned back to the group and took one last time to collect her thoughts. She wasn’t trying to convince a correction prison that she was going to turn her life around and lead a clean life. This was about her personal life that she had thought about for the last two decades despite lying to herself and convincing herself that she and Lou were only friends. It took a rough patch, a tool of a boyfriend, almost six years in jail, and a bigtime heist to make her realize that Lou was _it._

 

“Lou and I are dating.”

 

Debbie didn’t know how to prepare for their reactions, neither did she know what their reactions would be. So, she was thoroughly confused when everyone was silent and just staring at them with disbelief and confusion.

 

Another second later and they all started shouting at the same time. Some of them were shouting in anger, and some of them were cooing with happiness.

 

Daphne’s expression changed into absolute anger as she morphed her face to provide as much emphasis in her next few words as possible. “What the actual fuck!” She paused and looked at the two. “Are you fucking serious right now?”

 

Constance blinked twice. “So, you two were in fact making out on the beach that one time.”

 

Debbie sighed and nodded. Lou, behind her, mouthed a ‘sorry’. Constance didn’t reply and simply shook her head at them.

 

Tammy gazed at the two in awe as a small smile tugged at her lips. “Wait, really? You two _really_ are dating?”

 

Lou came up behind Debbie and rubbed slow circles into her lower back. A wide and warm smile graced her lips as she fawned over the brunette beside her. Debbie could only smile as she felt the familiar sparks shoot up her spine whenever Lou touched her.

 

Rose’s gaze shifted between the two as her mouth hung open. “Well, can’t say I didn’t see it coming,” she said softly.

 

Daphne was still swearing in the background.

 

Amita scrunched her face in anger and disappointment, and then crossed her arms. “You really kept this from us? First of all, how dare you, and second of all—”

 

Tammy interrupted Amita, “—Wait, how long have you two been dating?”

 

Daphne paused and also wondered. “Yeah, how long is a ‘long time’?”

 

“Well,” Constance began. “Obviously it was more than a month since, y’know, I saw you two.”

 

“Which, by the way, was rude, because she had to take the bullet for it,” Amita replied.

 

“Yeah, very, very terrible,” Daphne agreed.

 

“Okay, Constance,” Debbie began with an apologetic look. “I’m very sorry we did that to you.”

 

“We?” Lou raised an eyebrow. “As I recall, you’re the one that kissed me, and you’re also the one that gave Constance the cold shoulder. I was just playing along.”

 

Debbie gave Lou a disapproving look. “What happened to being my partner, huh? You’re _supposed_ to back me up.”

 

“I’ll back you up, but you’re taking the fault for what happened on the beach.”

 

Debbie’s look turned into a glare. “You _looked_ at me.”

 

Lou smirked. “Is it my fault you can’t keep your hands to yourself when I _look_ at you?”

 

Amita leaned towards Constance and whispered, “Mom and Mom are fighting.”

 

Debbie was about to retort, but Tammy interrupted them. “You two can finish that argument in the bedroom. We asked you a question, and you haven’t answered it.” She paused to let them halt their argument. “How long have you two been dating?”

 

Debbie and Lou looked at each other, and Debbie was the one to answer.

 

“About two and a half months.” Debbie followed her statement with a wince, because she knew, once they figured it out, that she was going to get some shit for it.

 

Lou could see the cogs turn in Tammy’s head as she worked out the math. Daphne and the others were trying to pinpoint when two months and a half was, but Tammy was the fastest.

 

“Holy shit,” Tammy blurted out loud. She pointed at the two of them with a gapped mouth. “You guys were dating before we pulled off the Toussaint Heist.”

 

Daphne smiled as her mouth dropped. “No. Fucking. Way.” She looked at the couple with a knowing look. “You two were screwing at the Met?”

 

Debbie furrowed her eyebrows at the celebrity. “Screwing? Wha—no. Dating doesn’t always mean screw first and ask questions later.”

 

Daphne rolled her eyes. “Says you.”

 

“How were you two dating before the Met, and how the hell did we not pick up on this?” Amita asked.

 

Tammy crossed her arms. “Because Debbie and Lou are cons. They’ll make you believe what _they_ want you to believe.”

 

“Years of practice, really,” Lou replied with a shrug.

 

Debbie sighed and began with, “A couple days before we pulled the heist off, everyone was already asleep. I was up going through every little detail of the Toussaint Heist a dozen times, because the last thing I wanted was for all of us to go to jail. Lou was still awake when I finally decided to go to bed. Scame into my room to check on me and make sure I was okay. I was nervous and worried, and Lou reassured me that everything was going to work. We talked about the heist, and then got into talking about our missing time as partners. One thing led to another and we…”

 

Debbie trailed off, but everyone could see the moment when their talking led to kissing. They weren’t hungry for each other or desperate to feel something. Their kisses were slow, methodical, and full of questions that came with little answers. Debbie didn’t want to lose her best friend, and Lou was worried the brunette was going to regret it, but the moment they both kissed back and refused to stop, all of the pieces fell into place. And it felt… right. It felt like they were making up for lost time – like the last two decades were quickly molding into a few seconds right before time stopped completely.

 

 Amita began to nod. “I did see you two look at each other a lot.” Rose nodded in agreement. “Eye-fucking – I think that’s the correct term.” Rose nodded again.

 

“And they were also alone together, like, eighty-seven percent of the time,” Constance added, and Amita pointed at her in acknowledgement.

 

Tammy furrowed her eyebrows at the couple. “Why did you guys wait this long to tell us?”

 

Debbie had already justified that decision. “I needed to make sure that what Lou and I were doing wasn’t from fleeting feelings, and that our relationship was, in fact, genuine.” Lou came up behind Debbie and wrapped her arm around her shoulder, reassuring her of their decisions.

 

“We needed time to see if we really wanted this,” Lou added without hesitation.

 

Tammy’s eyes shifted between the two as the emotions tied to her good friends began to surface. A smile tugged at her lips as the couple further cemented their relationship in front of the entire group. For the longest time, she hoped that Debbie and Lou would get their shit together and realize what they wanted in life was right in front of them. Although she never disclosed that she talked to Lou _extensively_ about it to Debbie, she hoped Debbie would find out on her own.

 

Tammy was very, very happy that they used each other to fill in those missing pieces in their life.

 

Debbie noticed the water that began to form at the corners of Tammy’s eyes. “Tammy, are you crying?”

 

Tammy’s voice became high pitched and she immediately tried to wipe away the small tears. “No…” She began to sniff. “I’m just really happy for you two.” She than angrily shot back between sniffs, “I am also really upset that you hid this from us.”

 

Lou flashed an apologetic smile. “Sorry.”

 

Daphne raised her hand rather dramatically. “Wait, I have a question.” Everyone’s eyes were on her. She took a moment to think of her words carefully. “If you two were dating since the Met, then who were _you_ chatting up at a bar in Manhattan a couple weeks ago?” She pointed at Lou, and the Australian raised an eyebrow at her.

 

“At the bar? I wasn’t at a bar,” she replied convincingly.

 

“Oh, believe me, it was you, and you were chatting up a very pretty blonde from what I could see,” Daphne smirked.

 

Debbie smiled knowingly. “Was the blonde wearing a pair of tight black jeans, a loose white t-shirt, and black heels?”

 

Daphne narrowed her eyes at them. “Yes…”

 

“Do you remember that blonde wig I was wearing at the Met?” Debbie asked with a sly smirk.

 

“We figured you guys were going to find out eventually, so we decided to have a little fun,” Lou explained.

 

“At least _you_ had fun,” Debbie said under her breath.

 

Lou grinned sheepishly, and added, “I did enjoy taking home a different woman every night.” Debbie shook her head and looked away in attempts to hide her blush.

 

Constance’s grin spanned from ear to ear. “Shit, they’re so cute,” she whispered to Amita.

 

Amita nodded. “I lowkey want them to declare their relationship status on Facebook, so I can flood the comments section with heart emojis and that one emoji where its two women and there’s a heart above their heads.”

 

Constance sighed, “Such a missed opportunity.”

 

Daphne groaned at the couple’s disgusting and really cute behavior. “Okay, now that the cat is out of the bag, can we raise a toast to the two idiots that finally admitted they’re banging?”

 

Tammy smirked. “For lack of a better wording, I will drink to that,” she agreed with a raise of her beer. Amita, Constance, Rose, and Nine-Ball all raised their choice of alcohol.

 

Tammy handed Lou a glass of vodka and then handed Debbie a glass of wine. All of them clinked glasses together and began to take a long celebratory drink. Nine-Ball was close to finishing her beer, so she was the first to stop.

 

“By the way, I know it’s a little too late right now, but you guys might want to look into a more secure way of sending each other nudes,” Nine-Ball casually added.

 

Lou and Debbie both choked on their drink, while the everyone else simply tried to hide their laughter.

 

\---

 

A couple hours after everyone drank their fair share, Amita, Constance, Rose, and Nine-Ball announced their celebratory departure and headed upstairs for some well-deserved sleep.

 

After a few more minutes, Debbie left to go change into something more comfortable, and Tammy and Daphne left to get ready for bed.

 

Debbie half-expected Lou to come into her room after her, but when she didn’t, Debbie went to go search for her. She peered over the railing and saw Lou on the sofa chair. All the lights were still on, and all of the emptied bottles were now gathered on the coffee table.

 

Debbie came down the stairs to see what her girlfriend was up to, and saw that she was nursing a tall glass of ice water. She also noticed the blonde woman was currently engrossed in a gossip magazine.

 

“Since when did you read this kind of stuff?” Debbie asked as she perched herself on the armrest.

 

“New York City does this kind of shit to you,” Lou replied with a small sigh. “So… no one seems to mind that we’re seeing each other.”

 

“Why would they?”

 

“I don’t know. That was my first thought when we didn’t tell anyone, not even Tammy.”

 

Debbie raised an eyebrow at her; she was worried that Lou thought she was embarrassed about their relationship. “Why would you think that?”

 

“Because It’s me and you.”

 

“That doesn’t explain anything.”

 

Lou sighed again. “Because it’s me. And it’s you. We’re… complicated people.”

 

“Who isn’t complicated these days?”

 

Lou closed the magazine and tossed it onto the coffee table in front of her. It wasn’t out of anger, but more out of frustration.

 

Debbie tried to mediate the situation by continuing, “The reason why I didn’t want to tell anyone was because I wanted to make sure, deep down in my blackhole of a heart, that I…” she paused and took a deep breath. “…that… I… love you.”

 

Lou raised an eyebrow at her completely unexpected declaration. “What?”

 

“You’re my best friend, and I don’t want our friendship to be compromised by my terrible way of justifying my feelings that I… feel, which, I know, doesn’t entirely make sense.” Debbie was beginning to ramble, so she paused for a moment to regain her train of thought. “We’ve known each other for over two decades, and we’ve lost a few years because of _men_. Terrible, terrible, disgusting men. The last thing I want is for us to lose more years, because of my terrible judgement of my own feelings.”

 

Lou stared blankly at her and slowly broke out into small smile. “Did you just say you love me?”

 

Debbie blinked and deadpanned, “That’s all you got after the speech I just made?”

 

“Excuse me for picking out the important part, Babe.”

 

Debbie murmured under her breath, “I thought my whole speech was important.”

 

There were countless times when Lou could physically feel the warmth in her heart from the moments she had with Debbie, because she made her feel like there was another life in her that was completely separate from her club, her watered down vodka, and her general business life. And in that separate life, all she could see was Debbie by her side, and the thought alone left her breathless and wholeheartedly content.

 

Lou wrapped her arms around her girlfriend and carefully pulled her onto her lap. The brunette’s legs dangled off one armrest as her back rested comfortably against the other.

 

Debbie reached up and brushed a few blond strands to the side. “I thought you didn’t like PDA,” she muttered lowly.

 

“Sometimes,” she clarified. “Sometimes I do, sometimes I don’t…”

 

“…And?”

 

“…And sometimes I can’t help myself around you,” Lou replied honestly and with a warm, reassuring smile. Her eyes stared at Debbie’s lips with her own parted in wonder and desire.

 

“Do you think they’re watching?” Debbie asked in a whispered hush.

 

“Oh, definitely,” Lou replied happily before leaning in and capturing the brunette’s soft pink lips.

 

Debbie wrapped her arms around Lou’s neck and deepened the kiss; she drowned in her partner’s sweet scent as their lips danced. Their kisses weren’t quick, or hastened. They were slow, soft, and full of two decades of unresolved feelings.

 

Above them, leaning against the railing, was Tammy, who had pretty much been their cheerleader for as long as she’s known them. She smiled warmly at the sight and sighed to herself.

 

“They look happy, huh?” Daphne said as she came up beside her.

 

“Yeah,” she replied.

 

“Kind of makes you wish for something as meaningful as _that_.” Daphne’s tone was full of longing and wonder. It sounded like she had thought of such a life for herself, yet was unable to find the right person to share it with.

 

Tammy raised an eyebrow. “Are you jealous?”

 

Daphne shook her head. “Envious.” She watched the Lou and Debbie pull apart; Lou whispered something at Debbie, and Debbie pulled her in for another slow and deep kiss – one that looked a lot more heated than the last. “They look at each other like they _mean it_. Couples rarely do that. It’s hard to describe love in a physical sense, but when you look at Lou and Deb… you just… see it. You can’t describe it, but you can see it.” She paused and looked at Tammy with a saddened expression. “ _That’s_ what people yearn for in life. _That’s_ what I wanted once upon a time.”

 

Tammy frowned at Daphne’s own revelations and sympathized with her by rubbing slow circles on her back.

 

Tammy was one of the few people that knew first-hand what Debbie and Lou had to go through to get where they currently were. They didn’t just fall into each other’s arms on the couch and live happily ever after. There were men that got in the way, more so women on Lou’s part, and every single time, they would pour out their feelings through drunken late nights, but neither of them would admit it the next morning. They danced around each other, thinking the other wouldn’t give them the time of day.

 

The unresolved sexual tension shattered into a ‘rough patch’ once Claude Becker came into the picture, but despite that road bump, they still found solace in each other. They forgave each other every single time, and Tammy half expect them to move on after Debbie was sent to prison. She was blissfully happy when she was proven wrong.

 

Daphne went to bed moments later, but Tammy stayed. She was thoroughly engrossed in her own flashbacks from when it was just Debbie, Lou, and herself when she heard the chatter from the living room.

 

“You like the show, Tim-Tam?” Lou teased her as she and Debbie walked up the stairs.

 

Tammy smirked. “Hey, after all this time, I think I deserve to watch.”

 

Debbie and Lou both raised an eyebrow at her.

 

When Tammy realized what she had said, she closed her eyes and mentally hit herself. “Okay, that sound really creepy, but you know what I mean.”

 

Debbie laughed. “Good night, Tammy.” Lou gave her a little nod before following Debbie into her bedroom.

 

Tammy’s smile widened as she felt years of weight fall off her shoulders. “Good night you dumb love birds.” She walked towards her room and then shook her head. “Almost two fucking decades of this shit. Thank god.”


End file.
